On 2 August 2006, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the independence
of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government and the political and civil authorities
of the country signed a declaration called the Universal of National Unity.
It confirms the 'permanence and irreversibility of the foreign policy course
of the Ukraine aimed at integration into the European Union'. A vast programme
of political and legal reform is also accepted by all parties.

For the European Union, Ukraine's confirmation of a common destiny
with EU's nearly half billion citizens, joined together under the principles
of democracy (sustained by five supranational institutions) and the European
rule of law has great advantages. At the turn of 2006, the EU had an unpleasant
experience of what the lack of European rule of law means in its most vulnerable
sector: gas and the energy sector. Petroleum prices have reached
new highs. Europeans not only need to ensure a constant supply and security
of energy, they also need to implement with urgency an effective strategy
to cut their energy use and raise efficiency in the face of a disastrous planetary climate change.

Full membership with the implementation of all the present laws (the
acquis communautaire) and underlying conditions could take many years of
negotiation. Is this the only way to proceed? How can such EU membership
be accelerated?

The following outlines how in Ukraine the conditions of democracy and
the rule of law can best be prepared for full membership while helping
the EU to tackle its most serious problems.

1. PurposeThe most effective way to accelerate the build-up of the rule of law,
suppress corruption, assure financial stabilization and encourage economic
growth as a forerunner for EU membership is to apply the Schuman method
as soon as possible but only in a limited sector. The whole acquis communautaire
does not have to be acquired as a precondition. The initiative would act
as a booster to European integration that is Ukraine’s ‘irreversible and
permanent course.’

2. Advantages for the EU:This would provide a fillip for the EU economy and increase its energy
security, a source of major worry. It would encourage improved relations
with Russia.

3. Method:Creation and signature of a treaty between Ukraine and the whole EU
based on the supranational principle (as pioneered in the EU’s first Community).
The treaty would initiate supranational institutions between EU and Ukraine.
This would include a common Court of Justice
and four democratic safeguard institutions : (legally required
assemblies for Opinions of government ministers, civil society and a Parliament
elected by citizens, these three give legal reactions to proposals
from an impartial Commission). They would act only in a very clearly delimited
economic sector. No other laws would be affected.

4. Sector:The energy sector is the most obvious
one because the present EU treaties lack
legal competence in energy strategy and policy. It could cover gas
only or include other energy sources such as coal (where new technologies
are becoming available), oil and electricity grids (where peak times vary
across the Continent). Note that the European Coal and Steel Community
treaty of 1952 expired in 2002 and has not been renewed. However, there
is general consensus now in the EU that an energy policy needs to be built
urgently. An energy treaty, therefore, could provide the most effective
link to the EU. For the EU it would have great economic benefits. For Ukraine
it would be a guarantee of goodwill and means to accelerate eventual EU
membership to which the country is committed.

5. SovereigntyA treaty would not reduce essential national sovereignty but rather
increases it. It coordinates mutually beneficial national interests under
the rule of supranational law. The European experience is quite different
from the North American federal experience in the USA or Canada. The supranational
experience has had a hugely positive effect on all member countries. For
Greece, Portugal and Spain which all suffered from dictatorships, injustice,
massive inflation, poor growth, unstable currencies, low investment and
poverty, lawful sovereign power has thus increased immeasurably. Member
States of the original Six are now experiencing the longest period of sustained
peace in two thousand years of history. They now enjoy their greatest prosperity
ever.

6. Conditions.The major condition for the application of the Schuman method is a
guarantee for supranational justice in the area of human rights. As Ukraine
is a democratic member of the Council of Europe and reaffirms its national
submission to the judgements of Strasbourg this condition of is fulfilled.

7. SchumanRobert Schuman, the founder and initiator of the EU, foresaw the creation
of a Community that would gather together all the countries of Europe,
including Ukraine.